Long Roads to Ruin, Part 3

From IDW Hasbro Wiki
Jump to navigationJump to search
ROM #13 main story
ROM 13 regcvr.jpg
Wait are the Wraiths robots now?
"Long Roads to Ruin, Part 3"
Publisher IDW Publishing, Ted Adams
Published in ROM #13
First published September 27, 2017
Cover date August 2017
Written by Chris Ryall & Christos Gage
Pencils by David Messina
Inks by Michele Pasta
Colors by Alessandra Alexakis
Letters by Shawn Lee
Editor Carlos Guzman
Editorial assistant David Mariotte

The penultimate issue of Rom's opening salvo against the Wraiths! But whose side are Orphion and Livia on?

Synopsis[edit | edit source]

Two hundred years past, after a long month of combat, the Dire Wraiths have been driven from Elonia. Livia however is concerned by Rom's melancholic attitude and his constant returning to the site of his old home as she believes they have all the power they need to avenge his loss. Rom does not see it that way as their new power will not bring back his family and with the prospect that the war will now be waged on an interplanetary scale, he ponders what other loved ones will be lost. Livia removes her mask to answer she still loves him, and though their hands cannot feel the other's warmth, Rom proves able to remove his own mask and the two embrace.

In the present day, off the coast of Italy, Rom has freed Livia and brought her to the Italian fishing boat though she remains unresponsive. Forced to take drastic measures, Rom removes both their faceplates and fires a beam of energy from his face to hers which proves enough to revive the female Knight. As the two discuss Livia's earlier discovery of the tentacles coming from beneath the ocean floor, Scylla and Charybdis make their return, the former plucking a sailor while the latter destroys the boat. Still too weak to fight, Rom and Livia have no choice but to grab the surviving two sailors and abandon ship. The quartet reaches the docks but the whirlpool still approaches. Rom has an idea however and, after asking who is rich enough to write off the loss of two boats, instructs Livia to grab one. The two charge the hulls with what little Neutralizer energy they have before letting the jury rigged bombs fly. The projectiles detonate and send Scylla's tentacles flying. Briefly reconvening on the docks, Rom instructs the sailors to flee (who have no obligation to do so and promise to raise the alarm) before he and Livia form spears of Neutralizer energy while Rom swears to avenge all the sailors the Wraiths have slain.

Across the world in Providence, Rhode Island, Darby Mason has returned to the warehouse she and Ruan Sablik stole the Space Knight arm and uses its Analyzer to scan the area, finding a ghostly image of a Wraith that only appears under the Analyzer's light. The image is intangible when touched with her human hand, but springs to life when touched with the Space Knight one. The image solidifies into none other that Camilla Byers who is just as surprised to see Darby. The ghostly image is how Wraiths communicate across long distances as well as allowing for instantaneous travel. Darby pulls Camilla through and though each woman is shocked by the other's unusual arm, they hug as they are prepared to now go on the offensive against the Dire Wraiths.

Beneath the Italian waves, Rom and Livia trade banter before they are beset by a swarm of Wraith-fish. Though the swarm is numerous with teeth sharp enough to penetrate their armor, they retreat in light of Scylla and Charybdis arriving aboard a sunken wreck, flanked by an army of aquatic Wraiths.

To be concluded!

Featured characters[edit | edit source]

(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)

Space Knights Dire Wraiths Humans
  • Livia (1)
  • Rom (2)
  • Severed Space Knight arm (7)

Quotes[edit | edit source]

"Scylla took the name of a mythical beast that lured sailors to their death. In the name of those they've slain, let us fight these leviathans as they would"

Rom gives an inspiring speech before beginning the attack on the Wraiths.

Notes[edit | edit source]

Continuity notes[edit | edit source]

  • The first scene takes place a month after the annual. The beacon Rom set up to mark his family's passing is still present. Rom also mentions the war will soon move to an interplanetary footing which confirms the Wraith invasion of Elonia only lasted a month.
  • In the annual, Livia's left eye was clawed at by the Wraiths shortly before the ore that formed Space Knight armor was found. As shown by her removing her faceplate, the eye is still in its socket and burns a bright Wraith red showing it was not replaced/healed by the armor as was thought to be the case.
  • The fishing boat is the same one from the first panel of the previous issue.
  • The warehouse Darby returns to is the same one she and Ruan Sablik stole the Space Knight arm from in issue #11.
  • Camilla regrew her severed arm with Wraith aspects and fled the hospital she was being held at in the same issue.
  • Issue #3 of Rom vs. Transformers: Shining Armor (released the same day) established that Space Knight armor does not allow its pilot to feel heat or cold or much of anything else. In this issue, Rom highlights of being unable to feel the warmth of Livia's hands.
  • The Absence communicated with D'rge via a ghostly image back in issue #3.

Errors[edit | edit source]

  • Camilla says Rom "burned the Wraith out of [her]", when it was Orphion who did so. Then again considering Camilla's state in issue 6, she can't really be faulted for not remembering clearly.
  • Despite being too drained of power to form the weapon, Livia has her Neutralizers out on the final page.
  • This issue states that Elonians cannot breath Earth's atmosphere with both Rom and Livia being sustained by their armors. The Unicron miniseries, however, would later show many Elonian civilians walking in Earth's atmosphere unprotected. Perhaps Elonians cannot inhale too much nitrogen when injured or maybe Metroplex was protecting them.

Real world references[edit | edit source]

  • Rom's HUD provides a very accurate read out of the composition of Earth's atmosphere.

Other notes[edit | edit source]

  • Despite being mentioned in the blurb, Orphion does not appear.
  • The faceplate of Space Knight armor is capable of retracting to reveal the pilot's face beneath.
  • Livia's shoulder cannons are revealed to not be Neutralizers.